Vocab Project
by Alec Sabatini
1. Organism- any living thing
2. Population- the amount of organisms that are in an ecosystem
3. Community- two or more populations of the same or different species inhabiting the same geographical region
4. Ecosystem- an area of land that organisms inhabit
5. Biome- a major biotic community
6. Biosphere- region of the earth that living things inhabit.
7. Food chain- a graph that shows how organisms depend on eachother
8. Producer- an organism that gets its energy from the sun providing energy for its consumers
9. Primary consumer- an herbavore that is second on the food chain
9.1. Secondary consumer- a carnivore that gets its energy from other animals
9.1.1. Tertiary consumer- consumer that is at the top of the food chain
10. Rain forest- forest with high annual rainfall
10.1. Temperate deciduous forest- trees that loose their leaves every year
10.1.1. Coniferous forest- mostly contains spruces firs and pines, most climates cannot support these
11. Trophic levels- position of organism of a food chain
12. Desert
12.1. Tundra
12.1.1. Grassland
12.1.1.1. Freshwater
12.1.1.1.1. Marine
13. biotic factors- all living factors in an ecosystem
13.1. abiotic factors- non living factors in an ecosytem
14. Biodiversity- diversity of plants or animals in an ecosystem
15. Hot spots- area of earth that can become volcanic
16. Ecological succession- gradual change in an ecosystem caused by changes in communities
16.1. Primary succession- inhabitation of a recently barren area
16.1.1. secondary succession- reduces an already established ecosystem
17. Pioneer species- species that colonized before any other species in an ecosystem
18. Climax community- vegetation reaches a constant rate of growth
19. Limiting factors- a factor that controls growth of an organism
20. Carrying capacity- the amount of organisms that an ecosystem can take without running out of resources
20.1. Population growth- increase of the number of organisms in an ecosystem
21. Black Plague- plague in the middle ages that killed almost half of western Europe
21.1. Industrial Revolution- change from an agriculture to an industrial nation
22. Exponential growth- growth of a population without limiting factors
23. Sustainability- how biological systems can remain divers for a period of time
24. logistic growth- factors that establish an equilibriam with environmental resources
24.1. J-curve- graph showing exponential population growth
24.1.1. s-curve- graph showing exponential population growth then leveling off at the end